Who can you trust? The predicament for diverse workgroups

This paper sought to explore the role trust played within diverse work groups. It was considered from the viewpoint of relational demography within a large Australian financial services organisation. Partial support was found for the hypotheses proposed. Heterogeneity in age showed lower calculus- and identification-based trust, while education dissimilarity lowered these dimensions of trust, as well as knowledge-based trust. This suggested that dissimilarity disrupts the willingness to cooperate and communicate within the work group. However, when group members shared a similar parental status greater calculus- and identification-based trusts were demonstrated. Further, similarity in job status resulted in significant knowledge-based trust, as members may have perceived commensurate levels of understanding and knowledge of the job.Christine D. H